You can use the tools included with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to back up and restore the server farm. The Central Administration Web site offers a simple, UI-based method to manage farm backup and recovery and to view job history and status. The Stsadm command-line tool offers a faster and more flexible command-line-based approach to farm backup and recovery. You can use the Stsadm command-line tool in conjunction with Windows Scheduler to schedule delayed or periodic backups.

You can use SQL Server Management Studio to get a full-fidelity, complete backup of the databases used by Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in the server farm. This method of backup requires Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (it will not work with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition) and you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local server computer that is running SQL Server.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 (DPM) is a server software application designed to help automate and streamline data protection. With DPM, an administrator can perform a complete or partial backup and recovery of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 farms. As a part of farm backup, the configuration data stored in the Central Administration content database and the SharePoint configuration database will be backed up.